Author: Melanie Marshall

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Introduction and FITT i

I think it is respectable how Sir Gawain volunteered in King Arthur’s place to challenge the supernatural green knight. While I appreciate the first blooming of Arthurian chivalry, I was surprised that King Arthur did not want to challenge the green knight himself. In this story, King Arthur is young and I expected him to be hot-headed and desire to make the first blow on the giant’s head. This story reminds me of the ancient parable “an eye for an eye” since however fiercely Sir Gawain strikes the green knight, the green knight will strike Gawain with that same force. Since this story contains a supernatural challenger, the green knight will not die from Sir Gawain’s blow, and I predict that Sir Gawain will die when he has to face the green knight a year later.

I think it is ironic how the knights of the round table were supposedly the bravest men in the land and, yet, when a worthy challenger comes to the castle, all of the knights except one stay silent when they are challenged. Maybe since King Arthur is young, he and his other knights have not gone on their many adventures yet and have not fully developed their bravery. Only when the green knight scoffs at the knights’ silence does the knights’ pride take a blow. I am curious to know in this story if the insulting of the knights’ pride is the sole catalyst that will cause them to take action.

I believe Sir Gawain demonstrates chivalry in two ways in this story: he steps up in place of his king to fight, and he shows trustworthiness. Unlike the other knights who were dumbfounded by the green knight and kept silent, Sir Gawain humbles himself before Arthur by calling himself the “weakest of [his] warriors” and, thus, the knight who should die fighting the green knight. Sir Gawain is willing to sacrifice himself for the betterment of the court and that shows chivalry and selflessness. Sir Gawain also shows trustworthiness since he volunteers in Arthur’s place to challenge the green knight, and then he follows through by striking the green knight. Sir Gawain kept his word which is important. It will be interesting to see if Sir Gawain’s chivalry continues throughout the story since he has promised to find the green knight in a year in order to receive his own blow. In my opinion, Sir Gawain would not be chivalrous anymore if he backed out on his word with the green knight.

This story reminds me of the Biblical story of David and Goliath. David was a young boy who volunteered for the Israelites to fight the giant Goliath. Just like Sir Gawain called himself the weakest warrior, David was the youngest and weakest son in his family when he fought Goliath. Both of these stories prove that someone does not have to be the strongest person in the room in order to rise up against a formidable enemy.

 

Intro to the 16th Century and Intro and Selections from the Faerie Queene

An interesting thing about the 16th century to me is the amount of religious turmoil there was. Since Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife and the Catholic church would not let him, he started Protestantism in England. His decision placed England in religious uncertainty since, for the first time, the king was the head of the church and state. If the change in religion was not already confusing for the English people, Mary Tudor or “bloody Mary” came to power after Henry and began earning her nickname by killing the Protestants since she was Catholic. This ushered in a new era of religious turmoil mixed with persecution of the people. Eventually Elizabeth came to the throne, however, and made Protestantism acceptable and encouraged once more.

After all of the turmoil and tension which England had undergone, Elizabeth needed to solidify her crown and help stable her kingdom. I was impressed by her confident approach to this since she stated, “I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king”. Since women reigning as queens was relatively uncommon, I think it was brilliant of her to encourage people to look past her “body natural” and instead look at her “body politic”. I believe her encouragement for people to focus on her idea of kingship, instead of on her gender, enabled her to have a broader range of support.

This support carried over into the literature of the time since authors like Edmund Spenser dedicated their works to her. For instance, in Edmund Spenser’s “Faerie Queene”, the Faerie Queene represents Queen Elizabeth. He depicted the Catholic church, on the other hand, as a demonic villain. I think it is ironic how Spenser was openly against the Catholic church in the “Faerie Queene” since the previous queen of England was a staunch Catholic who persecuted Protestants. This again shows how much religious turmoil there was in England at that time.

I like that the “Faerie Queene” is both a moral allegory and a historical allegory since it was relevant to the readers at that time and also enabled them to learn from the characters. An example of the complexity of the allegory is shown through the knights, since their allegorical characteristics are coupled with normal human behaviors. By making characters relatable to the readers, it pulls readers in more and allows them to learn from the character’s mistakes since they are similar to the readers.